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Original paragraph in
The Sydney Morning Herald - Friday, April 5, 1895
The Sydney Morning Herald - Friday, April 5, 1895
Most similar paragraph from
The Queenslander - Saturday, April 13, 1895
The Queenslander - Saturday, April 13, 1895
Difference
LONDON, APRIL 3.
The trial of the Marquis of Queensberry, on a charge of having criminally libelled Oscar Wilde, the dramatist and poet, was commenced
to-day. An immense crowd assembled in the court and its vicinity. The defendant pleaded justification, and that the words of the alleged libel were
written for the public good.
Evidence was given to the effect that Oscar Wilde paid heavy blackmail for his gushing letters to Lord Alfred Douglas, son of the
Marquis of Queensberry, and that these letters were found in some of his old clothes when they were given away.
The defence is based on revelations contained in these letters.
The prosecutor was stringently crossexamined with the view of showing that his novel, "Dorian Grey," a story of an artist and his model,
which appeared in Lippincott's Magesine, his articles in other magazines, and the Chameleon, with which he is connected, inspired to criminal practices.
Oscar Wilde insisted that the articles were merely the expression of an artistic faculty. The letters to Lord Alfred Douglas were "prose poems,"
"extraordinary perhaps, but not justifying an immoral interpretation." He admitted that he gave one of the alleged blackmailers £21. and afterwards
entertained him at luncheon in a private room. Wilde also admitted having been on terms of intimacy with two lads not his social equals, and that he gave
them considerable sums of money and expensive presents. He did this because he "liked them."
Mr. Wilde, after giving his evidence, was subjected to a stringent cross-examination with a view to showing that his book, "The Picture of
Dorian Gray," and certain articles published in the magazine "Chameleon," with which he was connected, were inspired by criminal practices. Mr. Wilde,
however, insisted that they were merely an expression of the artistic faculty; and, further, that his letters to Lord Alfred Douglas were prose poems — of
an extraordinary character, perhaps, but not justifying any immoral interpretation. He admitted that he gave one of the alleged blackmailers £21, and
entertained him at lunch afterwards in a private room. He also admitted that he had been on terms of intimacy with two lads who were not his social
equals, and he gave them considerable sums of money and expensive presents because he liked them.
Oscar Wilde's epigrams, paradoxes, and extravagance caused much amusement in court.
The case was not concluded when the Court adjourned.
The Marquis of Queensberry was admitted to bail.